homestead

In a popular sense, the place of the home–the residence of the family; it represents the dwelling house in which the family resides, with the usual and customary appurtenances, including the outbuildings of every kind necessary or convenient for family use, and the lands used for the purposes thereof. In a legal sense, a term strictly American, but susceptible to a variety of conceptions, one being immunity from the claims of creditors, another the restriction of the conveyance or incumbering of such property, still another a provision for surviving spouse and minor children to be made out of the lands of a decedent, which may or may not be property to which a homestead exemption has attached, and, in still other senses, the right, based on residence and cultivation, to acquire a tract of land out of the public lands of the United States, and the subject of such a right. 26 Am J1st Home § I. Used in a will by way of describing the subject matter of a devise, it is uniformly held that the term "homestead" is not limited to the quantity or value of land denominated in applicable statutes as constituting an exemption from execution. 57 Am J1st Wills § 1356. See abandonment of homestead; admeasurement of homestead; declaration of homestead; entry under homestead law; excessive homestead; head of family; homestall; homestead entry; homesteader; homestead ex vi terminis; homestead right; householder; probate homestead; reassignment of homestead; right of homestead; rural homestead; urban homestead.